Violin power bow



June 23, 1964 J. A. BRIED VIOLIN POWER Bow Filed July 9, 1963 INVENTOR United States Patent() 3,138,051 VIOLIN POWER BOW Julien A. Bried, R0. Box 729, Berkeley I1, Calif. Fried July s, 1963, ser. No. 293,647 14 Claims. (ci. sri-232) This invention relates to bows as used to play particularly the violin, viola, and cello, and has for its object a hand manipulated bow, used like a conventional bow in normal playing, but when notes of longerduration are desired than can be achieved with an ordinary bow, or louder sounds, the violinist while manually playing with the bow in the conventional manner may instantly apply mechanical power to operate the bow in either direction for any length or duration of note or chords desired, and the power drive may be as quickly stopped as may be required, and this control is operable even while the bow is being manually moved across the strings, as the application of the power drive does not interfere with the no1'- mal use of the bow, but adds the lacking feature of holding any note or notes any length of time, such as the very long drawn-out notes in many Italian songs. Further features may include a built-in tremolo, and which may be varied in intensity while playing.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear in the following description and the accompanying drawings.

Briefly described, to make the drawings more easily understood, the bow stick member, instead of having a llat fixed band of hair for rubbing across the violin strings, has an endless friction belt (of any material adapted to yield a good tone on a violin string) tensioned about two spaced pulleys, spaced adjacent opposite ends of the bowstick, with one run of the belt arranged parallel with and spaced below the bow-stick in the conventional position to contact the violin strings for playing, with or without the belt moving, but a power drive for the belt is connected to the lower pulley near the handle or frog of the bow, and which drive may instantly be brought into action, to run the belt either up or down, or stop it. The upper or other run of the endless belt is above the bowstick. The use of the power drive is entirely under the Control of the player while playing, either through means of a small starting and reversing switch on the bow operated by a slight movement of a finger of the hand holding the bow, or by a foot controlled switch, for the driving motor. The finger control of the switch on the bow is of great importance, as a violin soloist generally stands when playing, and it leaves a foot free for operating a volume control if desired.

In the drawings:

FIGS. 1 and 2 are respectively the outer and lower halves of the bow-stick member, as broken in half, and shown full size in the original drawing. The view being a side elevation of the bow as held at an angle as though by a player holding the bow on a violin.

FIG. 3 is a top View of the outer portion of the bow showing (partly in cross section) in more detail, the spring-urged telescopic outer end of the bow, and a wobble pulley for the belt to produce a tremolo" musical note, and which type of pulley may be used at both ends of the belt.

FIG. 4 is a plan View of the lower portion of the bow, showing an electric motor worm reduction drive geared to the lower end pulley, and with the motor projecting at an angle above the handle of the bow.

FIG. 5 shows in cross section, a short piece of a tubular shell which may be used to cover and protect the entire upper run of the endless playing belt, and as indicated by a short piece of it in place on FIG. l at 33.

In further detail, in the drawings 1 and 1 are the upper and lower halves of the bow-stick. 2 is the holding handle or frog at the lower end of the stick. 3 is the lower or driving pulley for the endless belt 5, and 4 is the outer pulley, both pulleys mounted centrally of the stick and over which two pulleys the endless friction belt 5 runs. The lower run of the belt is spaced well below the stick to contact the violin strings and allow for deilection in the belt when the bow is pressed against the violin strings. The belt may be made of any suitable material yielding a good tone, but I prefer that it be very narrow and substantially round or bunched to about a sixteenth to an eighth of an inch thick, and that it run in grooved pulleys as shown in the drawings. If a llat belt is used the pulley grooves may be flat bottomed, or crowned, but the walls of the grooves are important to insure the belt staying on the pulleys, especially if wobble pulleys are used which yield a tremolo note, and which effect is greater the nearer the bow is to the pulley on the music string, and is much reduced when the central portion of the bow is on the string when the power drive is used. running under power, the bow may be manually shaken sidewise to produce a beautiful tremo1o, something which is not possible to do with a regular hand bow while playing, and the bow moving.

In the drawings the pulleys are shown relatively large in diameter for the purpose of minimizing belt Wear or injury in making too small a turn, and keeping the two runs of the belt clear ofthe bow-stick. It should also be noted that all bearings in pulleys and at other rotating parts, are of course understood to be ball-bearings, to conserve power of the miniature motor used.

It should be here noted that a tremolo note may also v be made from true running pulleys if they be not perfectly round, such as slightly oval, slightly flattened on one or opposite diameters, or hexagon, all as easily understood, and requiring no illustration, and still further by incorporating any pulsating device in the power drive that will produce pulses in the speed of the belt, and of which several are well known in the mechanical power transmission art.

The power drive shown for the lower or driving pulley 3 comprises a high speed miniature reversible electric motor 6 with a speed reduction gearing driving a shaft 7 to which the pulley 3 is secured as by a set screw S. The

reduction gear here shown includes a worm wheel 9 secured to the shaft 7, engaged by a worm 10 carried on an extension 11 of the motor shaft, preferably through a flexible coupling 12, all mounted in ball bearings indicated, and all secured to and carried on a vertical plate 13 and its extensions shown. Plate 13 is rigidly secured at its forward portion to the body 1 of the bow, and at its rear end carries, or is secured, cemented or made integral with the frog or handle of the bow. l

Plate 13 is preferably of hard rubber, Bakelite, or similar moldable plastic, and the forward end of the drive shaft 7 is supported in a ball bearing 14 secured It may be mentioned here that when the belt isl v sa to another vertical plate 15 in turn firmly secured at its forward end to the body portion of the bow and projecting rearwardly toward the frog but leaving a small gap normally closed by a latch or gate 15 extending from the plate to the frog. The gap is indicated at 15" and is provided for passage of the endless belt, when installing it.

The handle or frog is similar to the regular frog of a violin bow, but is provided with a reversing switch for the motor, this is shown at 16 located on the underside of the handle where the thumb of the player will normally always rest upon it, and it is operated by moving the tip of the thumb forward or backward to respectively move the playing run of the belt upwardly or downwardly, or stop the belt when the switch is in a central position, which latter should be felt and stabilized by a slight click, such switches are commonly known as slide switches and used on various electrical devices, and are well understood without detailed drawings.

As the object of the reversing switch is to hold a long note when the bow is moving up or down manually, it follows that the switch should be applied to continue the direction the belt was moving, to avoid any conilict of motions. Or the player may hold the bowv stationary, with the belt traveling in either way for any length of time.

It should be noted that while the reversing switch is most conveniently located on the bow as explained, it could be located on the floor and arranged to be foot operated, as now frequently done with guitar players for volume control.

The electric wiring to the bow motor, indicated at 17, from any suitable source of power, should of course be as light and exible as possible, and the motor as small and light as obtainable, and if and when such motors can be run without wire connections, or flexible drive shafts are obtainable that are much lighter, smaller and stronger than at present available, such features will be applicable without aiecting the general construction of the bow.

Returning now to the outer portion of the bow, and the spring control of the tension of the upper as well as the lower playing run of the belt, this is important unless the belt is very resilient, particularly as the endless belt is often instantly reversed several times a minute in playing some pieces, and both runs of the belt must be highly tensioned, or if of threads or hair, strands will loosen and jump the pulleys, and also if any form of pulsating drive, wobble pulleys, or out of round pulleys, are used to develop a tremolo. The proper tensioning of both runs of the belt is carried out by mounting the outer pulley 4 at the outer end centrally of a forked rod 18 which telescopes into the ltubular portion 1 of the bow, and v which rod is resiliently urged outward by a coiled spring 23. The rod and tubular portion of the bow are indicated as of square cross section and are freely slidable together. By having both pulleys mounted substantially at the center line of the bow-stick, and the two runs of belt respectively below and above the stick, it practically balances the strains on the stick and holds it straight, so that its telescopic parts are free to slide in the slight but important back and forth movement in maintaining the tension on both runs of the belt.

The outer end of the rod 18 is forked as at 19 to embrace the outer pulley 4, and which fork is normally closed over the top of the pulley as by a small ller block or thick washer 20 held in place by a small bolt 21, so that by removing the block the fork will be open for originally inserting the endless belt. The lower end of the rod 18 is secured to the upper end of the spring 23 by being rounded to a tightly fitting neck 22 forced into the upper coils of the spring, so that when the rod is pulled out the spring will come with it, as the spring is loose in the tube. The lower end of the spring rests on a nut 24 of a loosely embraced screw 25, the head 25 of which rests against the upper end 1' ofthe bow body. This arrangement provides for the initial adjustment for the desired spring tension.

Below screw 25 the square tube 1 is indicated as with its upper wall cut away at 26 and its side walls and bottom continuing on and embracing the wooden or plastic body 1 of the bow, and rrnly secured thereto, as by through rivets 28.

Since the telescopic rod 18 would have to be pushed down a half inch or more to put on or replace an endless belt over the pulley 4, or to release the spring tension on the belt when not using the bow, a spring hold-down latch or its equivalent may be provided as shown at 29. This latch is shown as a flat strip of spring metal secured at its lower end as at 30 to the outer side of tube 1, and with its free forward end provided with a hook 31 projecting through a slot in the `tube and adapted to engage a notch 32 in the rod 18, or any other locking-down latch or pin may be used.

Since the upper run of the playing belt 5 is normally exposed above the stick, this may be avoided by providing a thin light aluminum or plastic channel shaped cover of the cross section shown in FIG. 5 at 33, and with a short piece of it shown in place on the bow stick in side view in FIG. 1 at 33.

Also to be noted is, that while in the drawings, all elements of the reduction gear drive have been left open, so as to be more easily described, in actual construction gearing together with the motor would be enclosed as a unit, as common with small electric motor driven devices.

Having thus described my improvements in a violin power bow and the manner of its operation, what I claim as my invention is:

l. A violin bow comprising a bow-stick member, two spaced pulleys rotatably mounted respectively adjacent opposite ends on said member, an endless friction belt passing over said pulleys with one run of said belt passing along above said bow-stick, and the other run passing along and spaced below said bow-stick in position for selectively contacting the strings of a violin in the normal way by a player holding the bow, and power means for driving the belt or stopping the same controlled by the player while playing.

2. In a structure as set out in claim l, means mounting the outer pulley for bodily movement along the bowstick, and spring means for urging said pulley outward to simultaneously maintain a tension in both runs of the belt.

3. In a structure as set out in claim l, the outer end portion of the bow-stick carrying the outer pulley being telescoped with the next rearward section, and a spring urging the outer end portion of the bow-stick outward.

4. In ythe structure as set out in claim 1, a tubular channel covering the upper run of the belt.

5. In a violin bow as set out in claim 1, gate means for passing the endless belt over the driving pulley without disturbing its rotative mountings.

6. A violin bow comprising a bow-stick member, two spaced pulleys rotatably mounted respectively adjacent opposite ends of said member, an endless` friction belt passing over said pulleys with one run only of the belt arranged for selectively contacting the strings of a violin by a player holding the bow in the conventional manner, and power means or selectively driving said belt in either direction or stopping the belt controlled by the player while playing.

7. In a violin bow as set out in claim 6, said power means including an electric motor mounted at the frog end of the bow-stick, and an on-and-off and reversing switch for said motor arranged to be oprable by the player while playing.

8. ln the construction as set out in claim 6, means automatically and simultaneously maintaining a spring tension on both runs of the belt.

9. In the construction as set out in claim 6, means for automatically inducing a tremolo in the notes played.

10. In the construction as set out in claim 6, means for automatically inducing a tremolo in the notes played in varying intensity as the bow is moved toward one end.

11. In a structure as set out in claim 6, at least one of 14. In a violin bow as set out in claim 13, the construction and positioning of said switch being such as to provide for its operation by the tip of the thumb of said hand while in its normal position on the bow while playsaid pulleys mounted to wobble in rotating to induce a 5 ing.

tremolo` in the notes as played.

12. In the structure as set out in claim 8, latch means for quick release of the spring tension when the bow is not in use.

13. A violin bow as set out in claim 7, said on-and-off 10 and reversing switch located on the bow adjacent the hand position of a player holding the bow and operable by said hand while playing.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

1. A VIOLIN BOW COMPRISING A BOW-STICK MEMBER, TWO SPACED PULLEYS ROTATABLY MOUNTED RESPECTIVELY ADJACENT OPPOSITE ENDS ON SAID MEMBER, AN ENDLESS FRICTION BELT PASSING OVER SAID PULLEYS WITH ONE RUN OF SAID BELT PASSING ALONG ABOVE SAID BOW-STICK, AND THE OTHER RUN PASSING ALONG AND SPACED BELOW SAID BOW-STICK IN POSITION FOR SELECTIVELY CONTACTING THE STRINGS OF A VIOLIN IN THE NORMAL WAY BY A PLAYER HOLDING THE BOW, AND POWER MEANS FOR DRIVING THE BELT OR STOPPING THE SAME CONTROLLED BY THE PLAYER WHILE PLAYING. 